Chapter 3 The Lady Who Loved Insects Kousaka first got a girlfriend in autumn when he was 19. He was introduced to a girl two years his elder by a not- particularly-friendly high school acquaintance, and by going with the flow, they started dating. Her appearance, personality, hobbies, skills, you name it, were completely average. He couldn’t even remember her face very well now. All that was left in his memories was that she had short hair, and her face dimpled when she smiled. Before they started their acquaintance, Kousaka decided to be frank about his cleaning habits. He explained that it was serious enough to impede regular life, but she just smiled and accepted it. “That’s okay. I’m kind of a clean freak myself, so I’m sure we’ll get along.” It wasn’t a lie, really. She was rather clean-loving. She always carried around various anti-bacteria products, washed her hands frequently, and took one or two - on days off, three - showers a day. But compared to Kousaka, she really was nothing more than “clean-loving.” It was just a strong attention to hygiene, and decisively different from the compulsions he had.